B.C. COVID-19 numbers stay low with 15 new cases

B.C. has reported 15 new cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the total to 359 active cases and 2,407 in total since the pandemic began.

Five more patients died in the 24-hour period up to May 15, four in the Fraser Health region and one in Vancouver Coastal, for a total of 140 COVID-19 related deaths.

Health care staff are in protocol for a newly confirmed outbreak at Abbotsford Regional Hospital, the fifth acute-care site to have a case outside a COVID-19 treatment ward. Others have been reported at Ridge Meadows and Lions Gate Hospitals.

Health care staff continue to deal with outbreaks at 15 long-term care or assisted living facilities.

Public health officials have also confirmed two cases at a Coquitlam fruit and vegetable processing plant, Oppenheimer Group. Contract tracing at the work place, which remained open. Other outbreaks at poultry plants in the Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland are being monitored, along with the Mission federal prison and Kearl Lake oil sands facility in northern Alberta.